


Perfectionists

by primaryglitch



Series: Soul to Soul [2]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: not intended to be shippy but you can interpret it that way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 05:01:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20058430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primaryglitch/pseuds/primaryglitch
Summary: With certain aspects of his personality bothering Death the Kid, he consults Maka hoping their leader can provide some insight. As they talk, they both realize they have more in common than they first realized.





	Perfectionists

Even with her natural knack for remembering, Maka did have to study. The library was a nice change from her apartment, where Blair and Soul could not seem to help themselves- causing far too much commotion for any real progress to be made. The library was quiet, as it should be, and with few other students in it allowing Maka to get lose track of time and focus only on her reading. But even being one of the most studious members of the DWMA, the lines were beginning to blur and she feared that, embarrassingly enough, she might actually fall asleep when she felt a light tap on her shoulders.

She took a second rub her hands over her eyes and she sat up from where she was slumped over her books. She saw Death The Kid in his usual attire looking down at her. However, unusually, it didn’t seem like Patty or Liz were anywhere near.

“Maka, do you have a moment?” he spoke slowly.

“Sure, what do you need? A new assignment?” Maka said as she stretched her hands above her head until her back popped. Being the son of Death himself, Kid sometimes got wind of new assignments and targets before they were posted.

“Ah, no. It’s a personal matter,” Kid said with a weird influential in his voice, was it embarrassment? Looking at him, he did seem a little flushed.

“No, problem- Here- let’s go somewhere where we can actually talk,” Maka said standing up.

“Thank you, Maka,” Kid said, relief as platable in his voice as it was on his face.

“Kid, there’s no need to be so formal. We are teammates after all,” Maka said collecting her books into her back and standing. “If it makes you feel better, personal matters affect our resonance. So as the team leader, it's my business.”

“You have a funny way of comforting people, Maka,” Kid chuckled lightly. “But yes, that does settle me slightly, or rather make me feel less conscious of such a selfish requestion.”

They fell quiet as they walked, Maka following Kid as he led. Knowing him, he had probably already played out his conversation in his head many times, therefore had a spot picked out. Maka thought she knew the halls of the DWMA well, but it did not feel that way compared to how Kid weaved his way throughout the hallways effortlessly. They ended up on a balcony overlooking Death City. Maka really hadn’t realized how much time had passed, as the sun had already begun to set and night had begun to fall. Kid walked up to the edge and leaned over the balcony, near the middle but off-center slightly. Which was confusing until Maka realized he wanted her to stand beside him. After she had taken her place, Kid still was silent. She had nowhere to be, and seeing she was about at the end of her line studying anyways she had time to wait until he was ready.

“How do you do it, Maka?” he asked, the softness of his tone surprised her. His head was downcast, his bangs covering his troubled expression.

“What do you mean. Kid, did something happen? Is everything alright?” Maka asked concerned, he really wasn’t acting like himself- or at least like the persona he usually projected.

Kid just sighed and stayed quiet a few moments before speaking, “We’re perfectionists, you and I.”

Maka considered what he had said for a second, it was clear how Kid was a perfectionist with his obsession with symmetry. When she considered herself as well, she realized Kid wasn’t wrong. She strived to be the best student she could be, perhaps a little too hard and a little more obsessively than most would.

“I suppose so, but why’s that relevant?”

“Well, how do you do it? Live in an imperfect world,” he paused for a moment, before continuing quietly, “live with an imperfect self.”

Such selfconsciousness stunned Maka until she realized, well yes of course- it only makes sense he would he. He was the son of Death, after all, he had a lot to live up to, worlds more than most meisters had to. Simply creating a Death scythe would be the end for him, she would constantly be in his father’s shadow. She understood that, in some way. With her father being a death scythe and her mother being such a great meister she had a lot to live up to as well. It’s why she studied so hard, trained so hard- she wanted to make her mother and more importantly herself proud. Did Kid share these feelings?

But more pressing was his question, which she had yet to answer. How did she do it? Live in an imperfect world? Well, try to make it perfect. But she couldn’t make the world bend to her will- nor would it be right to. Soul annoyed her in his differences, with his messiness and apathy, but they also understood each other and could not have gotten as far as they did without each other. She accepted and still works on accepting his differences. And that they could never be the same.

“Well, a perfect world means different things to each person. It wouldn’t be fair to force our vision of a perfect world onto everyone. And that’s hard...really hard. I struggle with it every day with Soul, but we manage.”

When she glanced over KId was nodding his head, “Liz and Patty are different people. I try to make them the same, they even try to make themselves similar for me- but they are different.”

“Exactly, and it's just learning how to accept that. Somethings we can make fit our view of prefect- others, we can't.”

“I think I understand or at least understand better than I did before,” Kid said, sounding more normal. But then he completely turned away from her and stayed silently for a bit. “...And for yourself,” he nearly whispered.  
Ah, now that one was harder. She found herself coming down even harder on herself for when she missed a few points on a test than on Soul for barely passing, the same went with their failures in battles. External, she blamed Soul, but internal she blamed herself. She knew it wasn’t fair to stay mad at Soul, but for some reason, the same rules didn’t apply to herself. Maybe that was it. 

“We cannot expect of yourself what we cannot expect of others,” Maka said confidently

“What?” Kid said turning around, confused and somewhat flustered. Maka only now realized he had been digging his hand into his hair.

“If we can’t expect the world to be perfect, how can we expect ourselves to be?” Maka reasoned.

“I mean I guess that makes sense,” Kid said, clearly not satisfied. He sighed and turned his back to the landing and slide down into a sitting position, his knees hugged to his chest.

“It’s just, everyone one expects me to be perfect- I need to be perfect,” Kid spoke quietly, trying to control his voice.

Maka followed suit, sliding down but inside letting her legs layout in front of her and wrapped her arm around Kid’s shoulder. “I can’t say I’m under the same pressure that you are, but I understand how you feel. It’s a process, I don’t think either of us with being okay with ourselves instantly- but one day.”

“You really think that?” Kid whispered, voice clearly shaking.

“I know it.”

Kid turned and pushed his head into Maka’s shoulder’s at an obvious attempt to hold back tears. They sat like that for a while, until the moon was high in the sky. Suddenly, Kid stood up, took out a handkerchief and blew his nose, after putting it away he turned to Maka and held out his hand. “Thank you, I feel better. I don't think I have resolved my problem but the weight feels lighter.”

Maka smiled, taking his hand to pull herself up, “Sometimes that’s all we need.”

“You’re a lot wiser than anyone gives you credit for Maka, I see why you’re our team leader.”

“I’m glad one of us can see it,” Maka said bashfully, rubbing the back of her head.

“You can’t?” 

“You’re not the only one struggling with these, thoughts. Sometimes all I see are my failures like I’m sure you do too”

“Maka, would you mind if we talked more? I feel as if we have more in common than I originally thought.”

“Of course, actually I’d love to. I’ve been needing a study buddy,” Maka said giving the thumbs up.

Kid actually laughed and smiled, “then it's settled.” He held out his hand to her to shake, and she readily grabbed it. It really would be nice to talk to someone who understood else problem, she wasn’t exactly comfortable telling Soul or her father, and having someone to study with really did seem nice.


End file.
